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Common Chicory
Torrevieja, España (2012).
It is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. When flowering, chicory has a tough, grooved, and more or less hairy stem, from 30 to 100 centimetres (10 to 40 in) tall. The leaves are stalked, lanceolate and unlobed. The flower heads are 2 to 4 centimetres (0.79 to 1.6 in) wide, and usually bright blue, rarely white or pink.
Habitat:
It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and in North America and Australia, where it has become naturalized.
Wild chicory leaves are usually bitter. Their bitterness is appreciated in certain cuisines. It can be used as a substitute of coffee.
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds), or for roots (var. sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive.
